The Cleveland Browns fired their head coach, Kevin Stefanski, after a six-year tenure. Now, the process of inviting qualified candidates, followed by interview requests, has begun. Most of the names on
Cleveland’s ledger have already been given a first interview. What’s left is the short list process to bring in guys to do a second interview, either in person.
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Several potential coaches scheduled a second interview, then called and cancelled. This includes former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and then Los Angeles Chargers DC Jesse Minter. Both then took other open jobs with other clubs, with McDaniel accepting an offensive coordinator job but agreeing to interview with the Buffalo Bills for their head coach job after it became available.
It isn’t like the Browns haven’t been interviewing prospects. They have. But is the open head coaching position considered poison? Doesn’t anyone want the gig?
One former coach is saying, yes, he will take the job. Not only take the position as the Browns’ next new head coach, but he is also stating his appointment would resolve the issues on offense and fix the quarterback problem.
This coach has won a Super Bowl. He has a lifetime record of 53-32 (.624) and has been profiled as “the smartest football mind we’ve ever been around.”
Mike Martz.
For one, Cleveland has not reached out to Martz for the open position, nor has he interviewed. He is 74 years old. The last head coaching gig he held was in 2019 with the San Diego Fleet of the defunct AAF.
Martz was head coach of the St. Louis Rams from 2000 to 2005. The year before, during the 1999 season, Rams head coach Dick Vermeil guided the team to a 23-16 Super Bowl victory over the Tennessee Titans in New Orleans. Martz was the OC, and his offensive group was nicknamed the “Greatest Show on Turf.” Vermeil then retired after the title game, and Martz simply slid into the big office.
On the radio show “Baskin and Phelps” on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland recently, in an interview, Martz was asked which of the vacant head coaching positions of the remaining six NFL teams he would take if offered. His response was:
“I would take the Cleveland job in a heartbeat. And I mean that. The challenge is to come in there, and they’re hungry to win, which I think is awesome. You need to change the culture.
Kevin started that. And I think I could solve that QB problem. You just need to pick the right guy. Maybe they have him. Maybe Sanders is the guy, I don’t know. You have to see him closer. I could resolve that issue on offense, in my mind.”
There isn’t an actual blueprint for hiring an NFL head coach. Although the current trend is to find a young coordinator and hopefully he will fall into the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan mold, all different kinds of coaches have succeeded and failed. Jonathan Gannon was thought to be included in that youth grouping with the Arizona Cardinals, but he lasted just three years after losing a franchise-high 14 games.
Vermeil took the 1980 Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl and lost 27-10. Two seasons later, he retired, and for the next 15 years, he worked as a broadcaster with ABC and CBS. Then all of a sudden, he returned to the game in 1997 as the head coach of the Rams. He was 61 years old and captured a Super Bowl three years later with one of the greatest offensive teams in the league’s history.
To Martz, he believes he has the offensive experience to turn that side of the ball around for Cleveland. And the important part is what comes next:
“And I just think if you get that team to win and into the playoffs, that town would just go crazy.”
The fact is, Martz has been one of the most respected offensive innovators of his era. Now, the “of his era” portion of that statement is key. He hasn’t been on the sidelines for six years. How much has the game changed since that time?
And what about his age?
Bill Belichick is the head coach at North Carolina and is 74 years old. Pete Carroll coached the Las Vegas Raiders last season at age 73. Andy Reid is 67. The New York Football Giants’ new head coach, John Harbaugh, is 62. His brother Jim is 61. So are Sean Payton and Todd Bowles; all three are head coaches.
George Halas was 73 years old in his last year of coaching. Cleveland legend Paul Brown stepped down as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1975 at the age of 67. Romeo Crennel coached the Houston Texans in 2014 at the age of 73. Marv Levy of the Buffalo Bills coached until he was 72.
So, NFL head coaches in their 70s is nothing new.
Experience is certainly not the issue. Martz’s St. Louis offenses revolutionized the league in the early 2000s while consistently ranking among the league’s top scoring units. Martz specifically pointed to the quarterback situation as an area he believes he could immediately improve.
And Martz had plenty of adversity at the QB position. His savior was Kurt Warner, who is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But the Rams’ starter was Trent Green, who became injured. Martz had no choice but to become a mentor to Warner, who had only played in NFL preseason games and spent three seasons in the “Arena Football League.” In fact, in his first year with St. Louis, the team designated him to the Amsterdam Admirals of “NFL Europe” so that he could get acclimated to the NFL’s style of play and earn some experience.
Martz is saying publicly that he would welcome the opportunity to lead the Cleveland franchise, and that he would eagerly accept the Browns’ job if offered.
And won’t be on that list of guys who have cancelled an interview.
